Corporate and events fundraising manager Lesley Woodhead said: “Every duck was different and it was brilliant to see how much thought and effort had been put into decorating them.”

The countdown then began for the release of 5,000 pink, yellow, blue and red ducks from the Queen’s Park suspension bridge who bobbed along to the finishing line near the bandstand.

Lesley added; “An event on this scale can’t happen without the amazing support of our very willing group of volunteers, many of whom are staff from the Countess and Ellesmere Port Hospitals. I’d also like to thank Gavin Mathews and the team from Dee 103.6 for all their help and support and Grosvenor Shopping Centre and Successfactory for providing the prizes.”

Entertainment was provided by Gavin Matthews from Dee 106.3 and Ian Gibbons from Radio Deeside for the second year running along with choirs from Saighton and Woodfall primary schools with Colour a Duck and Name the Duck competitions proving popular with children.

The results were:

Corporate Race:

Fastest: Ellesmere Port based Inspection and testing company ITCL with their Peacock Duck

Most Popular on Facebook: Woodfall School, closely followed by Highfield School.

Best Dressed Duck: CH1 Chester Bid took first place with Hootus Routus, second was Aga and third was Jane Lewis Nursing Agency’s Elton.

Celebrity Lookie Likee: Darth Vader from Equilibrium with Dawson’s Music (Elvis) a close second and Dublcheck’s (Kate Middleton) taking third place.